A Brief History of Love
by cal.grab
Summary: When geeky Caroline Forbes is asked to join the special effects team of her favorite show, she thinks her life can't get any better. Well here's to hoping.
1. What's a Girl to Do?

"Damn." Stefan is impressed by the girl's work, and he'd only seen the first few seconds of the submitted video. It was supposed to just be fan work, but when one of the producers had pulled him aside and told him to take a look at the girl's work, he'd been skeptical, but so sorely wrong in his skepticisms. She had taken videos of Nik and Katherine and had put them into their own virtual apocalyptic world, which was something he himself, didn't really understand.

"Who ever made this had a real future in the business…" Tyler trailed off, adjusting his glasses to get a better look at the detail in her made up city.

"You going to hire her Stef?" Damon was standing in the doorway of his brother's office, already having seen the video.

"I'm not sure yet, apparently she's still in college." Stefan sighed, ignoring the disbelief on Tyler and Damon's faces.

* * *

Three states above that dilemma, Caroline was having her own problems. "If Joseph and Nina don't end up together, I think I'll die." She had collapsed dramatically on her friend's dorm bed, wincing when she hit the plastic mattress. God, she forgot how much living in the dorms sucked.

"It's just a TV show Care, and frankly, not even that good." Elena stood beside the desk, applying the last layer of mascara and looking at herself from multiple angles. "I mean, aren't we too old for it anyway?" Caroline scoffed; it's not like she had a relationship of her own to obsess over, and so what was wrong with a little bit of trashy drama shows? Plus the guy that played Joseph was hella hot. "Did you wind up submitting a video to that stupid contest?"

"It's not stupid," Caroline mumbled, playing with the button on her flannel. She'd put a lot of time and effort into that video, and she thought her idea of post-apocalyptic love was great. Her Motion Graphics professor had loved it, praising her for going above and beyond. Elena shot her a look, telling her that it was, indeed, stupid. Caroline opened her mouth to argue when he phone began to buzz from her shirt pocket. Pulling it out, she read the unknown number.

"Who is it?" Elena asked, as Caroline tried to play eeny-meeny-miney-mo in her head about whether of not to pick up the damn thing. Ugh, the tiger's toe had told her to answer the phone, so she slid her finger across the green arrow.

"Hello? Caroline speaking!" He voice sounded a little forced, Caroline hated talking to anyone on the phone except for her mom.

"Caroline Forbes? This is Stefan Salvatore, head of special effects for Strange Girl? The show?" Caroline's breath caught in her throat. The HEAD of SPECIAL EFFECTS for freaking Strange Girl was calling her?

"Yes?" Caroline squeaked, ideas racing through her mind.

"You made the video Spread Our Codes to the Stars?" This Stefan character asked a lot of questions.

"Yea, that was me." Caroline felt her chest puff up a bit with pride.

"How would you like a job, working with the special effects team on Strange Girl?" Annnnnd, this was not one of the scenarios that had gone through her mind. She had imagined winning the contest and getting to spend a day on the set, or simply a bit of praise, but a job offer? Well she would have to think on that…

"Yes."

"It'd probably be a good idea for you to consider…"

"Yes, I'll take the job." Caroline's voice was insistent, I mean honestly, job offers like this did not happen to girls like Caroline Forbes.

"Aren't you still in…"

"Look, Mr. Salvatore," Stefan broke in and insisted that she call him Stefan, "Stefan, I'm a twenty year old girl who's just been offered her dream job. What would you do?" Caroline deadpanned. "I'll be there Friday." Caroline confirmed before hanging up. And promptly began screeching.

"The fuck Care!" Elena had plugged her ears and was watching Caroline jumping around in her oversized flannel and mini skirt, until her glasses went flying off her face. Elena smirked before she realized that losing her glasses wasn't going to be a deterrent. "What happened?"

"I got a job! Wait for it…." Caroline bounced a few more times, "on the special effects team for Strange Girl!" She screeched again, and Elena paused, honestly impressed with her best friend, before joining her.

"Shut up!"

"Shut your face before I break it Carol!" Caroline hollered back.


	2. Trouble

**Hi! So I've not really done an author's note yet, but if you couldn't already tell, this is AU and AH. Also a little OOC, but I'm kind of really excited by this storyline. The song is Trouble by Bittersweet. Anywho, enjoy! **

**-Calhoun **

* * *

Caroline Forbes gazed across the crowed airport, wondering where a certain Stefan Salvatore was. In the past week, she had managed to drop all of her classes, declare a hiatus from school, and not quite tell her mom. Liz was going to be hella pissed when she found out that her one and only child was in Atlanta, Georgia, being picked up by a strange man for a job that sounded too good to be true. Now that Caroline thought about it…too late, she'd spotted a rather handsome young man holding a sign with her name on it. Well if this wasn't fate, she thought, licking her lips and lugging her Vera Bradley duffle along for the ride.

"Stefan?" She was standing in front of him now and he gave her a blank look. "Caroline Forbes, that's me." She said pointing to the sign.

"Shit, sorry. I wasn't expecting someone so…" He was struggling for the right word.

"I get it, I look like a shit stack, no need to rub it in." Caroline grumbled and Stefan looked like he wanted to put his foot in his mouth. "Don't worry, I got this. You can't travel attractive Stefan, it's like a rule or something." Stefan snorted and followed behind the small blonde, out of the swarmed airport. She was right, she did look like a shit stack, and he was pretty sure there were traces of drool on her cheek.

"This way," he announced, taking her to the hourly parking deck, up three flights of stairs, and five lanes over to a black SUV. Stefan popped the back open for Caroline to put her bag down and she dug a few things out before slamming it shut, and climbing in the back seat.

"What am I? Your chauffeur?" Stefan was looking at her incredulously in the rearview mirror.

"I have to change, so don't look." Caroline warned. "I need ten minutes, think you can do that?"

"It'll take us about twenty minutes to get down to the studios actually." Stefan glanced back and could only see a pile of clothes on top of a writhing mass. He figured it'd be best to keep his eyes on the road. Caroline grunted, all attempts at preserving modesty gone. She was struggling to get the blouse tucked into her tight orange pencil skirt, and from there to get her thigh highs up past the pencil skirt. After that it was all make-up, and Caroline could work wonders with make-up. A few minutes before they were scheduled to arrive, Caroline finished the final touches, zipping up her Jeffrey Campbell 99's and throwing a J. Crew blazer over her cream colored blouse before quickly shoving all evidence of her former self into the duffle. The car had stopped just in time, and Stefan hopped out to open the door for Caroline.

He had to do a double take when she finally stepped out of the car. Long gone was the girl in ratty shorts and an over sized red flannel with messy hair and no make up. This was a new woman, and she was actually attractive. "Thank you Stefan." She smiled politely as he helped her down from the car.

"Let me take you to meet the rest of the cast and crew." Stefan smiled at the girl. She held herself with poise and glamour, charming everyone. The girl charmed even Katherine, and that was no easy task, Stefan knew himself. He had been excited to introduce her to Nik, but he was oddly nowhere to be found. Caroline found herself enjoying lunch with Katherine and Bonnie, the girl who played Nina's witchy friend on the show. Stefan had declined to join them, but offered to drive Caroline to her hotel later that afternoon.

"My God, that was exhausting." Caroline unzipped her shoes and took her blouse out of her skirt, pulling her shorts on underneath and sliding the skirt off. Stefan looked at the road with indifference. He had a feeling he would be getting used to Caroline changing in his car. Caroline exchanged her blazer for her flannel and her Jeffrey Campbell's for a beat up pair of loafers. "Much better." She grinned happily and looked at the studio pass they had printed for her today. It wasn't the real Caroline, but the façade would have to do. She'd been using it since she had been Miss Mystic Falls, poised and proper one minute, to the actual Caroline Forbes the next.

"How do you do that?" Stefan asked, and she guessed he was referring to her quick changes.

"I'm a girl, we have to be ready to change clothes at a moment's notice."

"No, I meant when you were acting fake. How do you keep it up so well?"

"Well Mr. Salvatore, looks like there's more to me than meets the eye. " Caroline artfully dodged the question as the two parked underneath the parking deck and clambered out. She grabbed her bag and prayed to God they didn't run into anyone attractive in the lobby of the old hotel. Stefan had mentioned something about seeing Nik there, and she was NOT prepared for that yet. She'd probably jump his bones on the spot, which would be awkward for everyone. They were able to make it through unscathed, when someone stuck their foot in the closing elevator.

Hot girl alert, Caroline thought to herself, checking the girl out. She wasn't gay herself, but she could appreciate beauty. "Stefan, so good to see you," the blonde girl simpered.

"Rebekah. This is Caroline, she's the newest edition to the team." Stefan gestured to her, and Caroline felt herself flush. Rebekah clearly did not think that Caroline was much to look at. Caroline looked in the corner for the rest of the elevator ride while Stefan politely entertained Rebekah.

"Oh and Stefan? We're having a little get-together on Wednesday. You should come." She winked and whisked herself off on the ninth floor. Caroline shot Stefan a smirk and stepped off with him on the twelfth floor of the hotel.

"What number are you in?" He asked, not having been paying attention at the help desk.

"1219," Caroline had to pull out the tiny folder with the keys to figure it out.

"Would you mind if I stepped in for a minute? I feel like going over what you'll be doing is important, and we didn't really cover that." Stefan was rambling a bit now, mainly trying not to tell her that Nik was in 1218, he had a feeling Caroline would die right on the spot. He was right of course, and she would forever hate a part of him for not telling her, and having to find out for herself, but that's a story for another day. Caroline shoved the card in the door roughly, jiggled the door handle, and sighed loudly when the light turned red. She made her movement slower and more deliberate and grinned when the light turned green.

"Hang on a sec Steffy, gotta get these contacts out." Caroline disappeared into the bathroom.

"Please don't call me Steffy, I'll never hear the end of it." He tried to sound irritated, but found himself grinning at the ridiculous nickname.

"Whatever you say doll face." She popped back out of the bathroom wearing a think pair of glasses. Stylish, but Stefan could see the lenses poking out the back. Girl must be blind. He shifted her duffle out of the doorway from where she had dropped it and followed her as she launched herself on the bed. The room was really nice, it had a little kitchen, a small sitting area, and of course, a lovely bedroom. "What's that door?" She moved to open it, and before Stefan could stop her, she had poked her head into the other room. "Wonder who lives here?" She questioned, shutting the door quickly. Who ever lived there wasn't very neat and had a hell of a lot more clothes than she did.

"You job description?" Stefan was sitting on the couch, and Caroline moved over to the bed and laid all the way back. "So the episode we've shot this week was partially done on a green screen, and we want you to build a similar city to the one you made in your own video. I can get you a script," Stefan paused when Caroline bolted upright.

"I get scripts?" She all but shouted. Stefan nodded slowly. "Best. Day. Ever." She whispered, emphasizing each word.

"There's one catch," he began again, watching her features turn to distrust. She knew it was too good to be true. "We need it done 24 hours before the episode airs on Tuesday."

"I have less than three days to create an entire fucking city? And not only the city, but manipulate the camera angles and the curves…" Caroline went on listing all of the things that she had to do, and Stefan cringed. He knew that changing the episode last minute would frazzle her, but Elijah had insisted, something about testing her. "Game plan with me Stefan. Let me shower, unpack, and then can you take me back to the studio?" Caroline had taken out a bright pink planner from her massive purse and began scribbling into it.

"Sure. I'll be back in thirty." He was glad she was taking this so seriously. Her new talent would be ground breaking for the show, since Tyler was doing most of the work himself, and let's face it. Tyler was as good an animator as Nik, and Stefan wasn't sure he'd ever seen Nik touch a computer.

"Thirty?" Caroline scoffed. "Give me twenty." Stefan leaned against the couch and watched Caroline rush around the room before disappearing into the bathroom with a toiletry bag. Caroline had some weird thing with time, wanting to break her own records of how long it took her to get ready. Stefan was pulled from his thoughts when he felt his phone buzz against his hip. _Miss anything today, mate? _Stefan grinned and quickly typed a response telling him about the new meat. He looked up when Caroline sauntered out, still wearing her glasses, but with her hair piled on top of her head.

"Do these tights match the thigh highs? I'm not sure how well they go with the shorts…" Caroline was, once again, wearing a ratty pair of jean shorts that were awfully short with lace tights and a grey pair of thigh highs. And her damn loafers. Caroline noticed his distaste at he shoes and frowned, "they're Cole Haan Stefan, lay off the loafers."

"I'm slightly more worried about your shirt." She looked down at the offending item with the faded pictures of Matt Bellamy from Muse and Eminem.

"It's Kan-rock-sas Stefan." Caroline deadpanned, grabbing her J. Crew blazer and throwing it on.

"So you're going to ask for my opinion and completely disregard it?" Stefan raised an eyebrow. She shrugged and pulled her laptop bag from the duffel.

"Ready! What's my time? Come on Stef, I've got like three days to do this!" Caroline was dragging him out the door by the hand.

"Eighteen minutes, wait, slow down Care!" She turned on her heel and huffed at him. "The script?" She made an O with her mouth and followed him down to room 1202. The ride down the elevator was completely silent, though not an uncomfortable silent. Caroline was flipping excitedly through the script and Stefan couldn't help but ask if she was a fan.

"Jo-na belongs together. Forever." She gave him a very serious look.

"Ok Care, lets not pull out on the crazy train," Stefan chuckled uncomfortably, knowing that Jo-na was not end game for the show, mainly because Katherine was dating Nik's brother, and so any physical contact between them always turned incredibly awkward. Unfortunately Caroline picked up on his discomfort, and stared him down.

"Jo-na isn't in our future is it?" She paused, allowing him to answer but he remained silent. "You'd better respond Stefan." Her voice was deadly quiet.

"No Caroline, and you'll be glad for it, promise." Stefan took his eyes off the road to give her a serious glance. She huffed and turned toward the window, not turning back until they had to show their badges to get onto the studio lot. "Bye Care, just text me when you need a ride!" He yelled out the window before driving off.

She let herself into the room that was designated as her office and plugged her laptop in, powering it up. She turned toward the door when she heard two British voices arguing somewhere down the hall. Se made a face at her laptop and turned up The Big Pink on Pandora, drowning out the two voices.

* * *

Nik paused hearing a beat somewhere down the hall. He leaned his head backward to investigate, and could see a light coming from one of the rooms. "Niklaus, are you listening?" Elijah questioned, ignoring the voices coming from the same source as the light.

"Who would be here at this time of day?" Nik wondered aloud.

"You and Katherine need to break off the fake relationship. Now." Elijah commanded. Nik looked back down the hallway and swore he saw a shadow flash. He turned to investigate, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Everyone knows it's fake anyway." Nik bit out, turning to his brother when he heard a sharp gasp. "Someone else is here 'lijah." He walked off to peer into the first doorway and swore he saw movement from under the desk. He walked as quietly as he possibly could to the blonde lump of hair that was peeking over the desk. "And what do we have here? Are you a fan or something?" Nik sneered, growing closer to the desk.

"Actually," The lump of hair popped up too quickly, surprising Nik. He took a couple steps back and flipped on the light. The chit gave him a quick smile, "had you been here today you would've known that we work together." Nik seriously doubted that.

"What are you? 17? I'm calling security." He muttered, grumbling something about security allowing young girls on to the premises to stalk him.

"What? No! I really work here! I'm in special effects! And I'm not seventeen." She huffed. Someone once told her she looked 25, and she took that to heart. Nik shot her a disbelieving glance, and pulled his phone from his pocket.

"That won't be necessary Niklaus, she's right. Had you been here today, you would have met Caroline, our newest acquisition." Elijah walked into the room, coming to Caroline's rescue. "Although she did look much older earlier…"

"Honestly?" Her voice was that of an indignant teenager. "Unlike the two of you, sulking about like vampires or something in the dark, I have work to do." She stated haughtily, pushing past Nik and Elijah and making her way back to the FX area. "Rude little bitches…" she muttered under her breath, slightly upset that the man she'd had a crush on for four years had treated her like a child.

"Acquisition?" Nik questioned Elijah, turning on his heel quickly to poke his head out the door. Jailbait was swinging her hips to the beat that must have been coming from her office. "You hired a teenager?"

"She's in college actually, and not a teenager, though barely." Elijah corrected his brother. Nik had been intrigued by the very young woman whose back was now turned on him. He choice of outfit was…fascinating. But, Nik reminded himself, he was in his thirties, at least ten years older than the chit, making her off limits. "I suppose it seems that I don't need to worry about you and Katherine." Elijah commented, earning him a withering glare from his younger brother.


	3. Crossing the Rubicon

**Hey all, I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to update. The last two months of college were a bitch, not to mention due to my own stupidity my car has been towed three times in a month, and I'm fostering an 8 week old kitten that I will likely keep. She's very active in the hours that I like to sleep unfortunately. Any who, this chapter has ended completely differently and I'm starting the next chapter, so it should be up soon. I won't have a car for a few days, so it's not like I'll have anything to do but litter train the kitten, and let's face it: that sounds so awful I don't want to think about it. **

**-E. C. **

* * *

"Caroline?" She jumped about fifty feet in the air when she felt a hand on her shoulder and whipped around so fast that her pony tail smacked her in the face.

"Dammit Stefan!" She muttered, spitting hair out of her mouth. Her glasses were askew as well, so she shifted them back to the bridge of her nose, blushing when she saw the second person in the doorway. God, she still looked a wreck, and probably worse than she did last night. She scratched her cheek, attempting to see if she had any dried drool and winced immediately.

"Do you want to go to lunch? Nik and I are headed to the yacht club." Caroline shot Stefan a look that said, no way in hell. "I'm buying?" Caroline grinned at him.

"Can I finish the scene first?"

"Sure, we're not headed out for another fifteen, I have to go check on Tyler. I brought you a change of clothes too." Stefan gave her outfit a distasteful look. Caroline frowned at him, but took her duffle from him. "There's some sort of meeting at two, so we have to be back by then. Apparently it's mandatory." Caroline shrugged at Stefan and shot a look at Nik who was staring directly at her. She quickly turned her eyes back to Stefan and shooed the two out of her office, avoiding Nik's…penetrating look. Sitting back down, she made a few more clicks in element 3D, before checking on her Universe download. She made a note to ask Stefan if he had seen the update.

Pulling out her duffle, Caroline realized she didn't have a lot of clean clothes left. A lace green dress, a sheer button down, and an oversized sweatshirt were just about all she had left. It was too hot for the two pairs of jeans she had brought, and she desperately needed more shorts. Caroline quickly locked the door and put the sheer button down and sweatshirt on her desk. The sweatshirt would be warm in the Atlanta spring, but the dress was way too nice. She quickly slid into the old sweatshirt and her loafers. Caroline contemplated putting contacts in, before making the decision.

"Ow, ow ow! God dammit…" Caroline hated the damn things, but she felt so much better in them. Jogging to the bathroom down the hall, she applied a layer of eyeliner and a swipe of mascara, before running down the hall to meet Stefan and Nik. "Ready!" She busted out of the doors and into the back of Nik. Luckily, he had heard the elephant steps barreling in his direction and was able to catch himself, and Caroline's hand before she hit the concrete of the studio room.

"Thanks," Caroline breathed as he pulled her up and into his chest. Nik stared at her for a beat before letting her go and turning back around promptly. "Jackass." she then muttered under her breath, pushing past him to stand beside Stefan. "What's going on?"

"Corporate is here, that's what the meeting is about later." Stefan whispered to her. Standing in the corner with Elijah was an older man in a suit. Caroline looked questioningly at Stefan and he leaned down again. "Head of the company, Michael Mikaelson."

"Isn't that…?"

"Nik's father? Yea. Bit of an ass, mainly to Nik." Stefan whispered to Caroline quietly. Caroline looked back to Nik and noticed the look on his face. She couldn't quite place it, but whatever it was, it wasn't good. Caroline tugged on Stefan's shirt, pulling him to follow her out the door, and she hoped Nik would follow, and was pleased to see that he did.

"Nice outfit Care, pretty sure I can see your ass." Stefan commented from behind her.

"Only means you were looking sunshine!"

* * *

"Oh my god, I fucking love onion rings." Caroline cooed when her food was set down in front of her. The mood was particularly tense with Nik all mad about his father, and Stefan was brooding over god knows what. Caroline figured that they were secret lovers or something ridiculous. Toying with a small onion ring in silence, Caroline was struck with a brilliant idea. Standing, and walking around Stefan to the other side of the table, she took the onion ring and got on one knee in from of Nik. "Will you marry me?" She asked with a straight face. Nik actually cracked a smile, and Stefan almost choked on a fry.

"What about Kat?" He managed to cough. Caroline wrinkled her nose and Nik took the onion ring, taking a bite.

"Hey! That was your wedding ring!" Caroline snapped before moving back to her chair. "And Stef, they broke up. Duh."

"I hate being out of the loop, I miss everything important. It's like, what do you mean Caroline proposed? What do you mean Nik and Kat broke up? What do you mean someone shot archduke Ferdinand?" Stefan sighed, eating another fry. "Speaking of which, what do you two think of that plane that disappeared?"

"Alternate dimension." Caroline stated emphatically. "Did either of you watch Fringe?" Nik nodded at her, and smiling, she continued, "totally plausible, right?"

"I suppose it makes more sense than any other explanation we've been given, but there haven't been any events to give us clue as to as event that would tear a rip in the fabric." Nik mused.

"Well with Olivia on the case, we'd never know." Caroline countered.

"What do you mean someone stabbed Caesar?" Stefan rolled his eyes at the two of them, breaking the connection. Caroline pouted. "What are you doing tonight?" Stefan ignored Caroline and directed his question at Nik.

"Not drinking with you mate." Nik laughed, taking a swig of beer.

"What am I going to do then, _mate_?" Stefan mimicked Nik's accent.

"Stefan, you need a girlfriend." Stefan turned to look at Caroline

"Caroline?" She laughed in response to Stefan's big eyes and pouty lips. "I'd treat you like a princess?" He offered.

"Don't say you'll 'treat a girl like a princess' unless you're prepared to follow up on that shit. If I'm not living in a castle by the sea with diplomatic powers over a small country then you're a bitch-ass liar."

"That-a girl." Nik raised his beer to Caroline, smiling at her when she clinked her sweet tea with his bottle. God damn, that smile could sail a thousand ships. "So Caroline, I know next to nothing about you…"

"Well you know I'm not seventeen." Caroline might be in love with the man sitting in front of her, but that didn't mean she'd take shit from him. Stefan shot them a confused look, but Caroline continued after Nik muttered an apology. "I'm not really that interesting though." Caroline pondered for a minute before settling on that answer.

"Oh I bet you're fascinating love." Nik leaned forward on the table. Caroline couldn't take her eyes away from his. Stefan about died from coughing and Caroline gave him her worst look. Nik ignored him and continued, "I want to know your hopes, your dreams, everything you want in life."

"Every color gel pen. Obviously. But seriously? I guess I want to see the world. I want everything it has to offer to me. I want to see live music and beautiful art." Caroline shrugged. "Speaking of bands I want to see, what ever happened to franz ferdinand?" Stefan shot her a meaningful look. "The band, not the archduke. I know what happened to the archduke." Nik gave her a meaningful look as their waitress dropped off their checks.

"I said I'd pay…" Stefan began, but Caroline waved him off and said she could pay for herself.

"I just need leave a tip…Hang on, I need a minute…" Caroline was struggling, and Stefan laughed at her.

"Come on Care, you did this in like 2nd grade."

"I don't even remember what I have for dinner last night you fucking whore." She snapped at Stefan. He put his hands up in surrender.

"We'd better get going, god forbid we miss that meeting." Nik stood up and began to usher the two fools out the the yacht club.

* * *

"What's going on Stef?" Caroline had popped up beside Stefan out on the back field of the studio.

"Filming, what's it look like?" Stefan whispered back, shooting a quick eye behind them. When he felt Caroline approach, he noticed Michael take an interest in her and saunter up near them.

"I meant in the scene." Caroline hissed back, oblivious to the man behind her.

"Picnic." Stefan gave her a short answer and tried not to take note when she glared at him, ignoring Nik and Katherine laying on a blanket, pretending to be happy.

"Load of bullshit this is." Caroline muttered, biting her nail.

"And what, pray tell, my dear is a load of bullshit?" Michael's booming voice came over their shoulders and everyone halted. Even Nik and Katherine peered over to see what was going on.

"Um, what?" Caroline stuttered. Michael repeated himself, without elaborating. "I mean…it just seems forced, you know? Like…Joseph is this big bad villain and here he is having a picnic of all things with a girl whom he has no chemistry with. I mean, just because he likes her doesn't mean he's going to go all soft and set up a picnic. I don't know, it's a bit out of character, you know?" Caroline was bright red, but she faced the man head on. The entire crew was completely silent now, half of them feeling bad for the ass whooping Caroline was about to get, the other half marveling at the size of her balls.

"Valid point Miss…"

"Forbes. Caroline." Stefan supplied when Caroline faltered.

"Miss Forbes makes a good argument here, and I'm confused to as why no one else guessed at it." Michael stepped away from Caroline and was now addressing the group gathered on the edge of the grassy field. "Now tell me, Miss Forbes," Michael turned back to Caroline, "about chemistry."

"I mean, it was a subject I didn't do very well in?" Caroline's voice cracked in her attempt to cover her nervousness with a joke. Michael didn't look amused. "Right, um, well, he and Candice had great chemistry, and the fans loved them together, but now all of a sudden he's in some sort of weird love triangle between Katherine and Phoebe and literally no one likes him with those two characters. I mean, if you look at the blogs and what not, people are quitting the show because the writers are forcing relationships and events that make not an ounce of sense. Not to mention, the fans love Candice, and she's hardly in the show all of a sudden, and yet Phoebe has a leading role? She's a good actress, but she doesn't seem to do well with a leading role…" Caroline trailed off when Stefan elbowed her in the side. Haley, the girl who played Phoebe was giving her a death glare.

"Ah yes, the fans. Carol," Michael was addressing the head writer sitting beside the director in a folding chair, "Miss…"

"Forbes" Stefan responded automatically.

"Yes, Miss Forbes, once again, references something very important that you seem to have missed. I was sent here in investigate why exactly this show was doing poorly, I was questioning Niklaus'…talent, but Miss Forbes makes me think that it might perhaps be the writing. Who shares you opinion Miss Forbes?" Michael, as well as everyone else, turned back to face a tomato like Caroline.

"Like…everyone? I mean…Joseph and Candice won the Guide's favorite couple two years in a row?" Caroline was beginning to question her comments when half the group was trying to kill her with their eyes.

"If the ratings aren't up by the end of the season, the show will not be renewed. Carol, I suggest you take what Miss Forbes said into account. At least one person here knows what they're talking about." Michael threw the last comment over his shoulder before heading back to the studio.

"Shit." Caroline groaned, tilting her head up toward the sky as everyone began filtering back toward the studio. Major revisions were in order, Carol was shouting, and everyone had better be ready to film at a moment's notice.

"You're a bad bitch Caroline. I like it." Katherine sauntered up to the blonde, and gave her a half cocked grin. Caroline's head came down so fast her chin slammed into her collarbone. Katherine gave a breathy laugh before swinging her hips in the direction of the crowd. A few people muttered expletives as Caroline stood silently waiting for Stefan, but much to her surprise, more people gave her nods of acceptance and high fives.

* * *

Stefan had made beeline over to Nik following the departure of Michael Mikelson. "You ok man?" Stefan knew anything with Michael was a bit of a touchy topic for Nik, who was currently rubbing his face in his hands.

"I swear, I'm going to cut out his knee caps and ship them to Antarctica." Nik bit out to a very alarmed looking Stefan.

"Bit extreme, don't you think?"

"No." Nik deadpanned, glaring at Stefan.

"Fuck me!" The two men looked up, alarmed by the guttural yell that came from the tiny blonde girl.


	4. Under the Paving Stones

**Sorry for the shitty update, but the past few months have been hellish. The last chapter was edited and there was a big scene change, so if you haven't read it, GO TO DO SO. I also edited the authors note, so if you care to know my life, you can read that too. **

***Also, I switched up some spellings. I'm still deciding how much it offends me. **

**Toodles,**

**E.C.**

* * *

"Hi…"

"Don't even Caroline. You get your ass back here before I fly down there and drag you back." Liz was pissed, as Caroline predicted.

"Mom…"

"Not this time Caroline, I will handcuff you." More pissed than Caroline expected.

"Mom, listen! I got a job offer I couldn't pass up!" Liz was silent after Caroline had blurted that out.

"Doing what exactly?" a quiet voice came from the other end. Shit, Liz was beyond pissed. Caroline's deputy sheriff mother only got quiet when she knew it would be scarier than raising her voice.

"Special effects for Strange Girl." Caroline squeaked out. She could see Nik and Stefan looking at her curiously as she frantically waved for them to leave her alone. The two shared some secretive look before approaching Caroline and plopping down in front of her like two kids at story time. Caroline gave them her worst look. The scene dressers were minding their own business, thank god, as they finished picking up the discarded props.

"That awful show you're obsessed with?" Liz sounded disbelieving.

"Dammit! Why does everyone think it's such a bad show…" Caroline muttered to herself before launching her attack on her mother, "it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up! I mean, real job experience on a real set? Mom, how was I supposed to say no?"

"Maybe between your drooling, you might have realized that it would have been in your best interest to finish your last three semesters of school, or even give me a heads up that you were dropping out so I didn't find out when the school sends me a refund check."

"Alright, I could have handled it a little better…"

"A little?"

"Fine mom, I handled the situation horribly. What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to be expecting me. I'll be coming down to Atlanta to inspect the working conditions and your…coworkers. Thank you, by the way, for allowing me the embarrassment of having to call the cell phone company to track down my only child. Sad when a deputy can't even keep up with her own daughter, isn't it?" Liz left the conversation hanging on that note and hung up. Caroline let the phone slide down her face.

"That ended better than expected. I didn't hear too much yelling?" Stefan was leaning forward with his head propped up on his hands. Nik was lounging in the grass looking bored.

"How about I switch your apple juice with pee?" Caroline snapped, glancing through her phone. She'd felt it vibrate up against her face while she'd been speaking to her mother, and it was a text from someone she hadn't expected. Nik glanced up in time to see her face drop as she stared at her phone, and had to quell the odd desire to crush the object that was causing her pain. Squashing his hulk like instincts, he was able to bring out the Dr. Banner in himself.

"Everything ok?" He asked, frowning at the two words that had appeared instead of his eloquent speech. Caroline shook her head, and he cringed when he could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes. God, he hated it when girls cried. Standing up fluidly, he snatched the phone out of her hand, glanced at it briefly, before typing a response. He quickly passed it back to Caroline and stalked off, leaving her with a mildly confused Stefan. Stefan glanced at his friend's retreating back and Caroline's sad looking half smile.

"What…" Caroline handed him the phone and ran off after Nik. "Who leaves their phone…" Stefan wondered aloud before reading the text. Some guy names Jesse with a heart next to his name had said: 'you can delete my number i dont care anymore.' Stefan cringed for Caroline, and scanned the response that Nik had sent: 'Who is this?' "Brilliant," Stefan grinned, looking at the two backs who were now side by side. "Abso-fucking-lutly brilliant." He could totally ship this.

* * *

"Your phone?" Stefan appeared in her office an hour later. Caroline smiled up at him through her glasses and tugged her head phones off.

"Thanks, I needed a break from it." Caroline took the offending object back from Stefan.

"Glad to be of service, how goes the work?"

"Well, I'm using the metropolitan pack for Element 3D to create something similar to what I had made before. Normally I'd build it from scratch, but given the lack of time, I doubt anyone will notice too much of a difference. I tried to put facades on some of the pre loaded warehouse buildings to get more of a cajun feel, but the software is giving me a little bit of hassle, every time I delete the front piece off of the building, when I go back to the layer, the null object jacks up…"

"Is the camera parented to the null or is the null parented to the camera?"

"Does it matter?" Caroline turned from her monitor to face Stefan.

"Surprisingly it does, I find that everything acts better when the null is parented to the camera, but I'm generally working with type when I use After Effects. More of a Premiere guy myself." He grinned at her. She nodded, clicking a few times in the program window before returning to After Effects to take a look at the scene. They found that she had everything parented correctly, but figured that the illustrator files she had been working with were giving Element a hard time. Sorting through the problem quickly and converting the files to photoshop format seemed to help, and Caroline was able to show Stefan the scene she had created.

"The city looks much more realistic with the photoshop files, I guess it was Illustrator format…" Caroline mused, scrubbing through the scene again.

"Are you satisfied with it?" Stefan had taken a step back while Caroline made a few adjustments to the drop shadows.

"Are you?" She turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Caroline, everything you've touched so far has been golden, including this. This far outranks the scenery work that Tyler has been modeling for us. If you tell me you can do figure manipulation, he'll be out of a job." Caroline laughed and shook her head, allowing Stefan to continue, "Elijah was satisfied with it before, and in all honesty, he wanted to see if you could take it up a few notches, and in my opinion, you blew it out of the ball park. work on it for another hour or two to make yourself happy, and then submit it. That's just my opinion though." Caroline nodded and turned back to the computer. "What did you and Nik talk about earlier?"

"Fishing Stefan." Caroline turned back to him, "we didn't really say anything. He walked me here and told me to not let the bastards grind me down. I told him I was impressed that he had read Atwood, and then we parted ways."

"For being a girl Care, you suck at being a girl. I thought you loved him?"

"I love the character and am hugely attracted to the actor, but I'm not in love with the guy himself." Caroline rolled her eyes. Stefan raised his eyebrows when she turned back to the computer.

"Don't be a cucumber with me Care." Stefan exited her closet office, knowing that she had turned around to hide the giant grin on her face. He was not wrong. Caroline set back to work, but not five minutes later, Elijah appeared with a sharp three raps on the door. Caroline jumped about three feet in the air.

"Jesus! What are you the police?" She whirled around before realizing who it was.

"Many run ins with them Miss Forbes?" Elijah raised an eyebrow at her.

"My mom is a cop." Caroline mumbled blushing.

"I see. Stefan sent me over to check on your progress." Caroline was able to impress the steadfast Elijah, earning herself a bit of praise. Elijah told her to submit to the final editor, Lexi, and turned to make his way out of her small office. "Oh, quick question, what exactly does 'ship' mean? I don't think he was referring to the nautical kind either." Elijah had whirled back to face Caroline, while she gaped like a fish.

"Who?"

"Stefan. Assuming you've not been on a boat with my brother recently, I'm going to assume he meant something else." Elijah raised an eyebrow, turning back on his heel and exiting the office.

"Bastard." Caroline muttered to herself, gathering her duffle and her oversized orange purse. Hitching the duffle up on her shoulder, she shut the door to her closet office and turned to search for Stefan, partly to give him a piece of her mind, and partly to ask for a ride. She needed to find an alternate form of transportation.

"Oh!" She turned and found Michael standing oddly close to her.

"Miss Forbes." He was grinning and frankly it was freaking her the fuck out.

"Mr. Mikaelson, I was just looking for…" Caroline stuttered, frantically searching for someone else in the hallway.

"I'd like you to come to dinner with me tonight, as my guest of honor."

"I uh…what?" She stared at his rather blankly, but he was already turning away.

"Perfect, I'll pick you up at 7." Caroline waited until he had turned the corner into the studio area before bolting to the opposite end of the hallway where she knew she would find Stefan.

* * *

"Take a seat." Caroline shifted nervously before slipping onto the barstool that Michael offered, trying to hide her wince when he shifted closer to her. He took the time trying to get the bartender's attention while Caroline glanced around. He had pulled up in a limo outside of the hotel and the two had driven two blocks down the street to get to the overly nice restaurant. The whole ordeal had made Caroline terrifically uncomfortable. She shifted to pull the hem of her short green dress down, regretting that she had not brought something more demure.

"…and a vodka and cranberry for the lady." Michael finished, gesturing to Caroline. The bartender gave her a dubious look and Caroline bristled.

"Actually, I'll take a whiskey, neat." She really didn't know what the neat part meant, but hell if she was going to let this creeper order for her. She didn't want to admit that she actually loved vodka and cranberries, and whiskey made her sound like a badass. Caroline knew she was going to regret her decision, she'd had whiskey when she was younger as her mother used it for cough medicine and hated the stuff.

"Good girl." Michael nodded approvingly. Caroline cursed in her head. "Tell me a bit about yourself Miss Forbes, I'm afraid I don't even know your first name.

"It's on the door of my office that you were in front of." He gave her a look that said that he hadn't cared enough to pay attention. "It's Caroline."

"Well Caroline, I'm pleased that you accepted my date." Michael brought up his glass to clink with hers.

"Not a date." She bit out before downing her whiskey in one fiery gulp.

"Right." Michael nodded as though he didn't believe her.

"Michael." Oh god, Nik was here, and Caroline was on a quasi date with his creepy ass father. She could hear the two bickering and put her head in her hands.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need to see some form of ID." Caroline looked over her shoulder and saw the restaurant manager eyeing her drink.

"It's fine, I'm leaving anyway." She sighed standing up, "I'm not being paid enough to babysit this idiot." Caroline grabbed her bag and began to turn toward the door before she thought better of it, "Michael?" He looked at her with a completely neutral expression on his face. "Grow up." Caroline could only begin to see the beginnings of the reddening of his face before she turned back to the door, which was of course, all the way across the room. "You coming Nik?" She tossed over her shoulder, but continued to walk.

It wasn't until she had stepped outside the door of the swank restaurant that she couldn't pronounce the name of that she felt a warm hand on her back. "I'll walk you back." Nik sounded mad, but his hand placement let Caroline know that it wasn't at her.

"After that? I need some damn ice cream." Caroline veered down a side street in search of a drug store, leaving an exasperated Nik to follow. Luckily, not a block down, they stumbled into a small local store that boasted Ben and Jerry's on the window and Caroline made beeline for the freezer section. Nik waited at the counter and was somewhat unsurprised to see Caroline not five minutes later, attempting to juggle too many containers of ice cream.

"I couldn't decide." She looked up at him helplessly, while he shook his head and laughed, grabbing a few of the containers and setting them on the counter to pay. "I can pay for my own damn ice cream, I don't need any of your macho man…"

"Caroline," he interrupted quickly, "it was my father that upset you. I think I owe you at least this." He then handed the cashier his card and took the bags of ice cream from him.

"I'm sorry. Michael was just so…" Caroline trailed behind him, actually feeling bad about snapping.

"Don't worry about it Caroline, I know how he is." Nik paused and let her fall into step beside him. "Where do you want to go now?"

"Somewhere with a spoon." Caroline nodded and grinned up at him.

* * *

They wound up back at the hotel, lounging on her couch, Caroline plowing through a pint. "So Nik…"

"Klaus. Please." Caroline paused when he interrupted her and gave him a questioning look. "People call me Nik because Klaus was too weird for the public apparently." He watched as Caroline struggled to swallow a particularly large bite of ice cream.

"Don't interrupt me." She managed, clutching her head. Klaus laughed, earning him another Caroline death stare. He took the pint from her grabby hands and moved to put it in the freezer, informing her that she'd had enough sugar. "Please Klaus, I've buried more than a pint and a half before."

"I don't doubt that." He sat a little closer to her, and rested his arm against hers when he sat back beside her. "What did he want?" Klaus asked quietly, not looking at her. Caroline rested her head against his shoulder.

"I'm not sure sunshine." She admitted, pulling her knees up on the couch, not caring if her skirt was far above where was probably appropriate.

"He's not my father you know."

"Yea, I figured. Not much family resemblance." The two sat unmoving for several minutes.

"I'm better looking, aren't I?" Caroline laughed and confirmed his statement before turning to face him. "What?" He was looking at her after he felt her head lift off of his shoulder.

"Don't let the bastards grind you down Klaus."

"I love that you're quoting Atwood to me Caroline." She laughed and flopped backward. He waited a few beats before following and resting his head on her chest.

"Where are you going buddy?" Caroling glanced down at the top of his head and picked her hand up to run her fingers through his hair.

"How drunk are you Caroline?"

"Not very." She replied after evaluating the feeling in her limbs.

"I think I'm a little bit drunk." Klaus told her quietly, turning his head so his chin was resting on her clavicle.

"Wanna do it?" Caroline asked him seriously, but cracking a smile shortly thereafter. "Wait, Klaus, I was…" too late. He was already kissing her.

"We don't…" He pulled away to look her in the eye.

"Shut up, yes we do." Caroline began pulling his head back toward her.

"I don't have…"

"Don't care. Birth control hasn't failed me yet."

* * *

Stefan went to knock on Nik's door when her heard a loud moan coming from the next door. Stefan smiled dreamily to himself before wandering back down the hallway.


	5. Hot N Cold

**So I'm not going to lie, this started out going in a very different direction, but as I lay on my kitchen floor last night surrounded by empty packets of Little Debby Swiss Rolls, I was hit with a sudden blow of inspiration. It was probably the massive amounts of processed sugar flowing through my veins like some sort of super molecule. **

**Also, I'm trying to work in the best possible amount of tech speak. In case anyone hadn't gathered, Caroline and I share the same major, although I suspect she's much better at it than I am. My simulated robots are still a bit clunky even though element and I get along fabulously. But enough about that.**

**Enjoy!**

**E.C.**

* * *

**5 Months later**

"Care…"

"No Stefan." Caroline called from over the edge of her lofted room.

"Leave her to pout Stefan. She clearly isn't thinking of anyone but herself." Rebekah snarled loudly enough for Caroline to hear. She winced, knowing that she had screwed up her relationship with the other blonde. Caroline swung an arm over her stomach and pulled her laptop back into her lap.

"Call me every day Care. We'll see you in about a month, ok?" Stefan climbed the stairs to her room and gave Caroline a meaningful look. She gave him a weak smile and Rebekah appeared behind him.

"Tell your small intestines I said hello since your head is that far up your ass." Rebekah's comment had been mean, but her tone implied otherwise. She put a yellow gift bag on the desk beside the door and shot Caroline a final glare before climbing back down the stairs.

Moving her laptop back onto the bed, Caroline pushed back down so she was lying on her back. The past three months had been unbelievably hectic. Klaus had all but ignored her after the night they spent together, which wasn't that big of a deal, but Caroline had really thought that they were going to be friends. So much for that. Rebekah though had told Caroline of her appreciation of Caroline's stand against her father, and the two had formed a weird sort of friendship that mainly involved snark and shopping. Caroline loved it.

Ratings were up on the last five episodes of the show and they had celebrated heartily at the news of their renewal. The actors had departed soon after for their summer habitats, leaving the crew to start set up for the next season. The effects department and Rebekah, who was still tentative about hanging out with the nerds, had split up and found apartments to share to reduce living costs. Stefan was thankful for a kitchen, Rebekah was thankful to have someone (Stefan) to run errands for her at all hours, and Caroline was just happy. She'd formed relationships with the rest of the crew, and following Klaus' moodiness, had discovered something in Tyler that she hadn't noticed before. The two were still new, but they were happy so far. Caroline ignored the pangs of hate when she saw pictures of Klaus with Haley in LA. Caroline's only consolation was that Haley called him Nik.

That time had come to an end though, filming was starting up again, and even though Caroline had wrangled her way out of working on location, she wouldn't be so lucky following ComicCon the following month when studio filming started up again. Caroline was also slotted to speak at the event, being one of the youngest and most talented designers in the current business. In the meantime though, her 21st had come and gone, with the group celebrating over movies and ice cream. Elena had sent her best wishes, though she was unable to attend. Liz had come down for the following weekend, and Caroline was able to patch things up with her mother for the meantime.

"Hello?" Caroline shot up at the sound of Elena's voice coming from the doorway of her Atlanta apartment.

"'Lena? Is that you?" Caroline called back. She'd spoken to her friend not two days ago via text, with Elena confirming that she'd come visit sometime before school started, but was currently unable to make it due to summer classes. Caroline heard a loud thud and stomping elephant footsteps climbing the stairs to her loft.

"Care!" Elena flung herself at Caroline, but Caroline rolled out of the way in the nick of time, leaving Elena bouncing on the bed. "Care?" Elena turned to look at her best friend who was perched at the end of the bed. Caroline looked at her, pushing her glasses up on her nose and tugging her tank top up. "Gotta be careful of that boob job?" Elena joked, sitting up to face Caroline. She smiled weakly and carefully untucked her knees from underneath her chest. "Damn Care, whatcha been eating lately?" Elena was all laughs until the realization suddenly dawned on her. "Your boobs are bigger." Elena stated solemnly, watching as Caroline nodded. "And that belly fat looks a bit…hard." Elena stared at Caroline's stomach. Caroline continued to nod. "Dammit Care! Older or younger this time? He'd better be older if he's gonna help you out. This explains why your attractive sounding friend Stefan was texting me all upset, begging me to drop my summer classes." Elena was rambling but trailed off when she noticed the glassiness of Caroline's eyes only seconds before Niagara Falls.

"Older." Caroline sobbed, throwing herself at Elena and pressing her head into her chest. Elena winced at the sharp edge of Caroline's glasses made contact with her sternum, but ignored the pain and gripped her friend tightly. "But he hates me!" Elena was having a hard time understanding Caroline through the snorts and sobs, and decided not to push the topic yet.

"I'll be here until August Care, I dropped my classes. We're gonna have so much fun, and you are so taking me to ComicCon. I wanna get up on those actors." Elena joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm gonna be a…whale!" Caroline wailed, gripping Elena even tighter.

"Girl, it just looks like you gained some weight. Maybe like, fifteen pounds? Totally not big deal on your frame. Hell, if I could get boobs like those…" Elena sighed wistfully. "Is it that Tyler fellow you were telling me about? Why does he hate you?"

"No, it isn't Tyler's, but he knows. Even offered to help support us." Caroline had calmed a little now, Elena could at least understand her. Elena sighed and wrapped her friend up tighter. Tyler seemed like a decent guy, stepping up to take care of another man's child, but where the hell was the father? She assumed that Caroline wasn't ready to admit his identity yet, and Stefan had been tight lipped so far. Elena could have figured by the timing though that it was more than likely one of the actors, and knowing Caroline, Elena had a decent guess on who it was.

"What me to kill the rat bastard? I know some people…"

"You don't know anyone 'Lena." Caroline laughed/sniffled, sitting up. "And it's fine, I haven't told him, so it's not his problem."

"Care, it is his problem, and it's your problem for not telling him. Dick move Caroline Forbes. Dick move." Elena pushed Caroline so she was at arms length and gave her a glare that let the girl know that she meant business. Seeing Caroline start tearing up again though, Elena softened her look. "We'll deal with that later, right now, let's see what this popsicle stand has in way of food."

* * *

Two weeks passed easily with Caroline and Elena exploring the city at large. Caroline worked a bit every night, although Elena had her in bed by midnight without fail. Elena had accompanied Caroline to the gender reveal and was able to convince Caroline to let the father decide whenever she did decide to tell him. Caroline had pouted, but Elena snapped that it took two to tango. Caroline pointed out that it took one person to open on envelope. Elena gave her a death glare.

It was another week before Caroline realized exactly what was going to happen at ComicCon. It took multiple phone calls from Tyler and Stefan, and six pints of ice cream to get Caroline in working order again. She had three days of outfits to pick, and Elena was unhelpfully rooting for sexy baby mama. Caroline had finally settled on a mix between comfortable, and dare she think it, sexy baby mama. Elena had picked out a bandage dress that somehow still fit, and paired it with a men's Chambray work shirt to at least attempt to hide her growing belly for her panel, which she would be on with Klaus. The outfit choice took a lot of deep breaths. Caroline wasn't super obviously pregnant now, but it wasn't something that would go unnoticed by the masses.

"I can't do this 'Lena." Elena turned her head back to Caroline, wedged in the tiny airplane seat, attempting to write a a neutral statement about her pregnancy that didn't arouse suspicions to the identity of the father.

"Girly, you don't have a choice anymore." Elena was about over the freaking out, though she would never say anything in support of Caroline.

"I didn't know I was in the damn family way when I agreed to this shit!" Caroline was still trying to wear her leather jacket and the small size was restricting the movement in her arms making her look like a stuck turtle. Elena laughed to herself before launching on the epic journey of calming Caroline down. Elena supposed that it was Caroline's neurosis that got her the job, obsessing over every damn detail, making sure everything was perfect, right down to the baby she didn't want growing inside of her. Rebekah had agreed to switch rooms with Caroline to make things easier on the baby and Caroline, and Elena had mainly been working on that odyssey in between panic attacks. Thankfully sexy Stefan was meeting them at the airport before dragging them to the first day of the convention. She and Caroline had flown in as late as physically possible to avoid any tension, but today was picture day.

Caroline normally flew looking like a shit stack, but with limited time and mobility, Elena was playing the part of hair and make up for the distressed girl. Elena had wedged Caroline into a 50's style dress that had a bit of extra room for bump, the name that had affectionately given to the baby. The leather jacket was Caroline's idea, but Elena had snuck a few punk accessories into her carry on to give Caroline her unique look.

"Too late!" Elena announced cheerily as the pilot announced their descent before passing Caroline her inhaler. Following a bumpy landing, and more than a few well placed elbows from Elena, the two made it out of the airport where a large black SUV was waiting for them at the curb.

"Hurry, the police here don't take kindly to loitering." Stefan announced to the girls, helping them throw their bags into the back, and assisting Caroline and Elena into the back seat. "Care, you're looking awfully pregnant, and by that I mean great." Stefan was grinning broadly as he navigated through airport traffic.

"Shut up Stefan." Caroline was feeling more and more anxious the closer they got to Klaus. Plus, Bump was not helping by sitting on her bladder. It was true, she had filled out a bit in the past two weeks, something she didn't take too lightly. There was no hiding it now.

"Tyler is practically leaping with joy that you're here." Caroline felt herself wince a bit. She'd been so focused on what Klaus was going to think, she hadn't even thought of Tyler and his puppy excitement. Great, now she was the worst girlfriend impregnated by another guy ever.

"Please shut your beautiful mouth Stefan while I finish Caroline's make up. You're making her think." Elena pulled the mascara brush from her mouth and went back to work. Elena poked and prodded and practically had to cut Caroline from her jacket, and only managed to get it off of her by reminding her that excessive heat was not good for expecting mothers. Caroline wasn't prepared when Stefan parked and handed them their passes, but thankfully Elena was there with extra deodorant.

"Just put it on my forehead 'Lena, I don't care what it does!" Caroline shouted as Stefan opened the door. Glancing up, Caroline noted a smirking Haley at the door who had clearly heard her outburst. Well that was awkward, Caroline thought, but braced herself. She was the baddest bitch in town, Haley ain't had nuthin' on her. Zipping up her black ankle boots, Caroline weaseled her way through the car door and stood triumphantly in the parking lot for the first time in months.

"All right Wonder Woman, let's go get this over with." Stefan gave Elena a wide eyed stare before leading the two girls to the rooms where their pictures would be taken.

"I thought only the actors had their pictures done?" Elena asked Stefan, the two now trailing behind Caroline and her randomly new found confidence.

"Those are the ones you see, although Care's might pop up in a few places, being she's on a few panels." Stefan had to gently grab Caroline's arm to steer her, but allowed her to lead them as if they were going to war. They made their way over to the Strange Girl group and Caroline found herself cowering behind Stefan and Elena again.

"You're a bad bitch from hell Care, no one is going to mess with you." Elena whispered soothingly until Caroline had gained back an iota of confidence. The three remained tucked out of sight until the special effects team was called for pictures, and Stefan had to tug a quivering Caroline up to the backdrop. Klaus and Haley were front and center, involved in some discussion with Katherine and some guy named Silas.

"Ok, we're going to get a few group shots, and then some of Miss Forbes since she's on panel. Try and look cute or something." The woman announced to the group. "Miss Forbes, please step out from behind Stefan." The photographer announced loudly.

"BAD ASS BITCH FROM HELL CARE!" came a screeching voice from the back of the crowd, alerting everyone to her presence. Caroline wanted to slam her head against a wall, as everyone, including Klaus, turned to stare at her. And so the tittering began. Caroline tried her best to look cute while not staring at Klaus, but probably came out a bit constipated. She could see the photographer getting more and more frustrated with her.

"Hold everything, I got this." Elena pushed her way through the crowd and shoved an earbud into Caroline's ear, before putting one into her own ear.

"Miss, you can't…" Elena put a hand up to shush the photographer, and shooed the rest of the team off of the backdrop.

"I'm with you 100% Care." Elena whispered before blasting Wonderland through the earbuds and spazzing the fuck out. Caroline laughed at her friend making a fool of herself in front of everyone before joining her best friend and singing loudly and off key. Collapsing in a fit of laughter at the conclusion of the song, Stefan quickly hauled the two girls away with the approval of the photographer. "You owe me big time." Elena hissed as Stefan carted the two girls into the SUV and to the hotel rooms that had been set up for them.

* * *

"Care!"

"Hey Tyler." Caroline and Elena were sitting at the hotel bar, sipping virgin cocktails, Caroline out of necessity and Elena out of pity.

"You're not supposed to…"

"I'm not stupid, there's no alcohol in these." Caroline snapped, pushing her glasses back up her nose. Tyler stepped back and nodded knowingly. "Shit, I'm sorry Ty, these hormones are making me pissy."

"Care, why is Nik intent on finding you? And why did you request a different hotel from everyone else?"

"Why did you think that this was an appropriate place to bring this up?" Caroline stood and pulled Tyler to a more secluded area of the bar.

"Hormones, no need to apologize." Tyler had an easy smile on his face. For a moment, Caroline found herself wishing that the baby was his. This whole shindig would be a hell of a lot easier.

"Not hormones that time buddy, I'd rather you not announce to the world that the father of my child is a famous actor." Caroline really wanted to finish her drink in peace, but knew all hope was lost when Tyler puffed himself up.

"I had a feeling. Man, what would people say if they knew he was neglecting his unborn child."

"He doesn't know Tyler." Caroline finally had to admit it. She was a terrible person for not telling Klaus that he was the father, and she could see Tyler's opinion of her form in his eyes. "I really just want to deal with this later," Caroline was hoping to get out of this without playing her trump card, but when Tyler opened his mouth to protest, she knew there was no going back, "stress is bad for the baby after all." Shutdown complete. Caroline invited Tyler to have a drink with her and Elena and catch them up on everything he'd been doing while he was overseas on location.

* * *

"Nope." Elena stood in front of the exit from backstage at the panel. It was extremely dark, and she'd luckily been able to dodge Klaus several times, but no longer. The actors and a few of the crew were filing out on stage, Caroline with a helpful push from Elena. Thankfully Caroline wasn't too involved in this panel, she didn't have much to contribute, but apparently the fans had taken special interest in her. She had made it through the majority pretty unscathed before someone in the back row stood up.

"This is for Caroline Forbes, I wanted to say congratulations on the pregnancy, we saw when you walked out." Caroline gave a quiet thank you. "You and the father must be very happy."

"Yes, you two must be happy. Forgive me, I haven't seen Caroline in forever, I can't recall the bloke's name, care to remind me? I wouldn't want to mess it up on the card." Klaus was all bitterness and cold control, and the audience could feel it. So could Haley if Caroline was correctly feeling the death stare.

"You never got to meet him actually, he disappeared after. His name was Klaus though, if you see him, please send him my way." Caroline smiled sarcastically in the direction of the rat bastard. A comment of 'bad ass bitch from hell' was clearly heard by the silent room, and Caroline cursed Elena for her loud voice.

"Well, um, I wanted to say that you have as many fans as anyone else up there Caroline, we all know your story and it gives us hope." The fan continued after a few beats of silence. Caroline was now cursing her hormones as tears pooled in the corners of her eyes. Caroline gave a teary thank you, and asked the name of the speaker so she could track the girl down later. The panel ended shortly after, and Elena whisked Caroline off to the next panel where she would be discussing her techniques in full.

"I thought you'd written something that didn't totally call out baby daddy." Elena was tugging Caroline through the crowd, while Caroline looked around gleefully.

"How he acted is on him, not on me."

"How adult of you." Elena deadpanned, flashing their badges and pulling her to the back stage of the next panel. "You made some shitty decisions too Care, he deserved to know before this. And dammit if you two don't sit down and actually discuss this before the week is out, I will end you Care. After Bump is born of course." Elena continued to scold a petulant looking Caroline, and neither of them noticed the approaching figure.

"She's right Caroline, you owe me a hell of an explanation." Klaus was looming over the two of them like some dark overlord, but Elena was quick to turn her glare on him too.

"You know, timing is everything. For example, yours is awful. First you knock her up, and then you get here right before she's due on stage…I'd get out there if I were you Care," Caroline went skittering off to line up with the other experts, "and those are just two examples." Elena finished, turning her attention back to Klaus.

"Maybe if she had spoken to me, one of those things wouldn't be at least partially my fault." Klaus hissed to the dark haired girl.

"You're right, her timing was beyond awful as well. You deserved to know a long time ago, and I've been arguing your case since I found out, so don't be so quick to judge me Mr. Prickle Pants."

"Fair enough." Klaus amended, standing back slightly.

"Reservations are at 7," Elena handed him a card detailing the address and phone number of the restaurant, "we're at the Hilton, pick her up by 6:30 at the latest. Apologize for being a shit stack, and I'm sure she'll do the same. And don't bring up baby bump until after you leave, god knows that's going to be a scene to behold. I'll be conveniently gone from the room until 11:30." Elena glanced him over quickly, "Flowers won't hurt your cause. Who knows, she might even show you the envelope in her purse." Elena skipped off to go sit in the audience of Caroline's panel, though she had no interest, or any idea of what they were talking about. Elena slipped into a seat in the back row while Caroline was arguing about some girl named Maya when she felt someone slip in beside her. Elena was a little surprised to see Klaus, or Nik, whatever the hell his name was, but turned back to watch her best friend.

"But they're exactly the same!" Caroline sputtered indigently. "It says so on the web site! The set up is just different."

"No," the older, much larger man argued back, "3DS blows Maya out of the park. I mean, look at our shows," he grinned knowing the ratings on the FOX network channel blew Strange Girl's out of the water, "the ratings prove it. You just aren't experienced enough yet." Elena felt Klaus tense beside her. "You probably got knocked up by some actor." The guy chortled. Elena physically had to hold Klaus down while Caroline choked on her water.

"Wait," Elena commanded a fuming Klaus.

"Listen here you son of a bitch," Caroline hissed, as Elena commented to Klaus how she was unaware how tense these panels were, "just because you failed out of your gaming degree, doesn't mean you have any right to comment on my personal life. Unlike you, I signed up for what I want to do and didn't get knocked off my feet when someone asked me to be creative for the first time in my life. And yes, I am inexperienced, I'm a twenty one year old college drop out, who was so damn good, I didn't need to apply. Where I work, people respect my opinion and don't titter behind my back about what a certifiable jackass I am. But if picking on a young pregnant woman helps you sleep at night, come at me. I can do this all damn day. And while we're at it, let's talk about how much more scriptable Maya is, hmm? Everyone here knows that 3DS is easier in the beginning, and let's face it, Maxscript is a hand holding program. But hey, if you're up for a challenge, try Maya out before you knock it." Caroline finished her speech with nods of approval from everyone on the panel and a whooping Elena in the otherwise fairly quiet room.

The rest of the panel finished well, the other effects guys taking Caroline's advice into account. Caroline met Elena and Klaus out in front of the auditorium once all of the FX designers had gotten Caroline's email address, including the man who had attacked her character. The same man passed by the three standing in the hall and gave Caroline a reassuring pat on the back. Klaus made to lunge at the man but was held in place by a firmly gripping Elena and a sharp glare from Caroline.

"That was a test." Elena told Klaus sharply as the man walked off, "That's how nerds see if each other is worthy. Caroline here hit the nail on the head." Elena grinned proudly.

"And," Caroline looked tired all of a sudden, "you have absolutely no right to defend my honor Klaus." She turned sharply on her heel and stalked off. Elena turned to face Klaus as she walked away mouthing 6:30 at him, and winking before turning back around and jogging to her friend's side.

"I am not a nerd!" He heard Caroline screech, though her voice was fading as she walked away from him.


End file.
